//------------------------------//
// Changeling Problem (Part 1) 
// Story: Summoning Equestria: Arrival 
// by NicieLunar 
//------------------------------//

=///Back to present time, Austaillia, 1100 hours\\\=

Under Austaillia's scorching heat lies a small wooden house. If one were to look at it, it was a normal wooden house. Nothing out of the ordinary or anything like that. But, if one were to focus on who owns the home, they would be in for a pleasant surprise. This generic wooden house was home to one of Equestria's most powerful Alicorns, Sunset Shimmer, the Princess of Defense.

Inside, she sat on her soft sofa while enjoying her daily cup of coffee. Things at the time were calm because today was her day off. She had been through all kinds of things, starting from the eradication of rebels in Central Coltlombia, the Lunar schism, and to the REAF invasion of Afghaneighstan to fight against the Griffon terrorist organization called the Talonban (Equus version of the Taliban).

One of her best achievements is the prevention of an attack that occurred six years ago where nineteen members of the Griffonian Empire terrorist organization named 'Al-Aquileia' hijacked several airships and intended to crash them into the ETC (Equestrian Trade Center) Tower in Manehattan.





=///Six years ago, Manehattan Sky, 1000 hours\\\=

More than a thousand feet above Manehattan, an Equestrian Airlines Beeoing 767 type passenger airship soars the skies above. Its destination previously was supposed to be somewhere in the desert, but alas, that was not the case. Fear enveloped the airship as hijackers took control of the airship hours prior, and were now making its way towards one of the famous skyscrapers of the Manehattan skyline.

Distress calls had been sent before the hijackers took over, but the Equestrian military couldn’t simply shoot the airship down due to the hundreds of innocent souls on board. Luckily, since the airship was only capable of flying at a maximum speed of 135 km/h (84 mph), the Neigh York provincial government had enough time to evacuate the civilians out of the city and to notify the Equestrian central government in Canterlot about the developing situation.

Attempted negotiations with the terrorists resulted in failure, and under Princess Celestia’s direct orders, they had no other choice but to authorize the deployment of a special individual to take back the airship.

That certain individual would be deployed as one of the members of the SR-034 Scout Team or now being renamed as the SF-034 Task Force.

After being briefed on the situation, Commander Sunset Shimmer sets her mind on the airship and using her special Alicorn magic, Sunset Shimmer manages to teleport herself to the airship to regain full control before it’s too late.


=///Airship cockpit\\\=

"My Lord, we finally got a visual of the tower." one of the terrorists said.

"Excellent work, brother. We finally made it and we can get our revenge on the Equestrian heathens!" Lord Ashes BoneLadanen said.

The terrorist griffons aboard the airship cheered with joy as their objective would soon be achieved. The hostages on the other hand began to cry, fearing for their lives as they heard the cheers of the hijackers.

As the hijackers celebrated, Sunset Shimmer sneakily hid on the ceiling of the airship while monitoring her targets. Since she is now an Alicorn, she is sure to be able to take them down without any trouble. She also wore special armor made of enchanted titanium and armed with a Cassiterite sword, so that's a bonus.

Sensing the time was right, Sunset dramatically dropped down from the ceiling and landed with a mighty thud.

"Hello there." the young alicorn smirked.

The terrorists and the passengers turned their attention to Sunset, expressions filled with either surprise or fear since not only did a pony appear out of nowhere, but said pony was an alicorn.

Lord Ashes BoneLadanen chuckled. "Commander Sunset Shimmer, you are a bold one!" 

"Funny… you said the exact same thing the last time we met in the caverns in Afghaneighstan." Sunset responded indifferently.

Immediately after her sentence, the terrorists on the airship drew out whatever weapons they had on Sunset. Sunset looked at them with a raised brow, she certainly wasn't intimidated at all. 

Lord Ashes turned and growled at his inferiors. "Back away you fools!” he returned his attention towards Sunset. ”I will deal with this Alicorn scum myself…" 

The terrorists lowered their weapons and withdrew a few meters. Both the terrorists and the passengers held hostage looked at the two beings that stared each other down, one being an Alicorn and the other being the leader of the hijacking. The atmosphere around them began to grow heavy as both beings circled each other cautiously.

"Your move." Sunset said with a grin

Lord Ashes chuckled arrogantly. "Big mistake, equine, I have trained myself swordshorseship for decades!"

Lord Ashes whipped out two of his swords and pointed each of them at Sunset. He began spinning his swords in a quick fashion, mimicking that of an airship propeller. It may have seemed impractical, but he was determined to kill her. In his mind, he believed that he was able to defeat her in an honorable melee combat. He has spent decades perfecting his swordshorseship, taking out multiple skilled enemies as if they were children. Unfortunately for him, Sunset wasn't in the mood for a slow, honorable battle. 

She wanted to get over this quickly and go back to relaxing in her apartment with Dusky Sight to enjoy some free time. After a moment of thinking, she decided to simply obliterate him, literally.

Sunset Shimmer ignited her horn and fired an overcharged explosive spell at him. Within a blink of an eye, where once the two meter griffon stood, his organs, bones and blood were splattered across the cabin, leaving only his two swords on the ground unscathed.

“Huh… I wonder why I even let him live the first time round…” Sunset muttered to herself.

The terrorists froze in fear by what they had just witnessed. Their boss, their leader, reduced to atoms on a level of violence never seen before in their lives.

Seeing her enemies off guard, Sunset quickly took the opportunity to kill them all. She maneuvered towards one of the terrorists before decapitating him. The others, try as they might, were no match to Sunset’s combat prowess. One by one, they all fell to the Alicorn’s magic, their remains spread across the airship. Soon enough, the entire airship was cleared of the terrorists, only leaving the horrified passengers and crew members in the wake of the massacre.

Sunset looked around herself as the realization hit her. ”Ooh… I may have overdone it a little bit…”






'Huh, what a time to be alive.' Sunset thought to herself as she sipped her drink once more, swirling the warm liquid in her mouth to maximize its flavor.

Today was her day off and she wasn't going to let anything mess up her leisure time, even if it included the entire country being mysteriously teleported to another world, or the fact that a fleet of warships were docked at the port of Coltlombia filled with hairless bipedal monkeys.

Setting those aside, everything was quiet and peaceful, just the way she likes it. Unfortunately for Sunset, the universe was an 'asshole and it didn't care about anyone's feelings, no matter their status or species.


Ring Ring Ring!


Startled, she accidentally dropped her coffee cup, spilling its contents onto the once clean floor.

Argh… buck...' she groaned.

Not bothering to clean up the mess on the floor, she turned to the phone near her and picked it up aggressively. 

She raised her voice before she spoke, "WHAT?! I told everypony that I was tired and I don't want to be disturbed this week!"

"Woah, calm down Sunset, it's me, Dusky Sight. I'm sorry if I disturbed you, but we have a problem."

This piqued Sunset’s interest a tad bit, "What problem? If it's about Equestria getting teleported to another world, then respectfully, buck you. I already know this and I told you guys I'm no expert in Space-Dimensional problems! Honestly, that should be the job of Twilight and her blasted friends."

Dusky Sight sighed. "For Faust’s sake… you still hold a grudge against her?"

"Why the buck not?" Sunset replied nonchalantly.

"Eh… nevermind, forget I asked. Back to the problem at hoof, yes, this is indeed about that teleportation problem, but it’s not what you think."

Sunset straightened her back. "Oh really? So what’s it about then?"

A silence took over for a couple seconds before Dusky Sight responded, her voice uncertain.

"Erm… it’s about the changelings, Sunset. We have a changeling problem..."






=///Six hours later, Canterlot train station, 1800 hours\\\=

Sunset Shimmer got off the train car along with the hundreds of other ponies onboard. Thankfully, she masterfully hid her wings with a spell, so to anyone else, she seemed like a normal unicorn.

She took a deep breath of fresh air as she finally arrived at her home city, Canterlot. After a very long time, she was finally able to see all of its famous tall towers and luxury buildings once more. She hadn’t visited her city for almost a decade, but even so, she was really happy to finally be able to visit her old home city. 

Despite her… memories of the orphanage, her childhood with her adoptive mother overtook those dark memories.

With the memories and nostalgia settling in, Sunset walked towards Canterlot Castle. Strangely, while walking towards the palace, the city seemed really quiet, almost like a ghost town. She was curious as to where everypony was, but unfortunately she didn't have time to investigate, she had other important things to do.


=///Canterlot Castle Gate, 1800 hours\\\=

Dusky Sight had never felt this frustrated in her life, even more so than the time she tried to solve a puzzle she found back in the barracks. One of the royal guards guarding Canterlot Castle would not allow them entry despite having provided their military identification papers. As of right now, Crystal Tender, Dusky Sight, Flower Jade, Thunder Spark, and Emerald Ace were waiting patiently in front of the gates. Well, most of them anyways.

"What do you mean we can't enter? We showed you our military ID card, didn't we?” Crystal Tender said.

The royal guard spoke calmly, "I am aware of the military ID cards you have shown me, but in the name of Prince Blueblood, nopony is allowed to enter Canterlot castle until said otherwise." 

Crystal Tender groaned. "Ugh… he's not a prince, he's just an over glorified unicorn noble! I mean, he’s no way related to the princesses at all! Well, I don’t think so…"

The royal guard raised a brow. “Well, it would appear you haven’t kept up with the UKE’s news for a while now, so I’ll update you on it. Prince Blueblood is the official prince of the United Kingdom of Equestria. He does have the title ‘prince’ after all. Doesn’t that mean anything?”

“W-What? Alright, now hold on there, whatever-your-name-is, I’ll have you know that…”

'Haha, this is fun to watch…' Dusky Sight thought as she watched the two go back and forth.

After all the Alicorn princesses (at least the ones that the public knows), went on a diplomatic mission to one of the human nations of this planet, the United Kingdom of Equestria is experiencing a total 'Power Vacuum'."

For most of the UKE, this was not a big problem since the provincial governments of all provinces of the UKE are capable of maintaining the stability of their respective provinces without much trouble.

But sadly, the same cannot be said for Canterlot.

Canterlot is government special territory, a sort of provinceless limbo region that is under the direct rule of the Alicorn monarchs themselves, being the only city in Equestria without a mayor.

So in short, with no Alicorns present, the city is now under total maretial law.

With the declaration of maretial law, the governing in Canterlot fell into the hooves of the Canterlot Royal Guard, the pony version of the praetorian guard. This overpaid organization is, to this day, the most incompetent military unit in Equestrian military history.

They have access to the most expensive armor/gear a pony can ask for, but they are very bad at their job at protecting the princesses. One of their worst failures was how they dealt with the Changelings' invasion of Canterlot more than four years ago.

After that incident, they became a mockery of the Equestrian Armed Forces. Some even proposed to Princess Celestia to disband them altogether, but sadly that never happened and Dusky and her friends had to wait in front of the castle gate.

Dusky Sight hummed to herself. 'Hm… how are we going to pass?' 

Fortunately, before Dusky Sight thought of anything devious, a spark of light appeared in front of her and anyone near her. As the light began to go away, it revealed an amber colored mare. Not caring about the existence of the confused royal guard, she started walking into the castle like she was the owner of the place.

“Hold on, let’s continue this argument later.” said the stallion arguing with Crystal Tender as he turned his attention to the amber colored mare. 

"Hold on right there, miss. Where do you think you’re go-" the royal guard froze as the amber colored mare, now revealed Sunset Shimmer, showed both her horn and wings.

Sunset Shimmer looked at the guard and spoke, "Hello there, guard. I know this is sudden, but can me and my friends go right inside? I don’t know if anypony told you, but this is urgent." 

The royal guard stared  at her for a couple seconds, trying to wrap his mind around the fact that there is another alicorn, before shaking his head. "I-I’m sorry, who are you?" 

Sunset Shimmer chuckled. "That is expected, this is supposed to be a secret after all. I am Princess Sunset Shimmer, the adopted daughter of Princess Celestia, Princess of Defense."

"B-But that’s impossible! There’s only…" he counted quietly to himself before speaking to Sunset Shimmer once more. “... three alicorns! There’s only three alicorns, how can there be a fourth?”

“Hard word and dedication, guard.” Sunset Shimmer looked at a nearby clocktower and turned back to the guard. “Now, we do have to get a move on. Can you let us in, or should I explain to the captain as to why one of his guards is magically at a different post?”

The royal guard gulped at the subtle threat. “Y-Yeah, you and your friends are permitted to enter. Just let me do a thorough check for any disguises or anything dangerous.”

The guard, though hesitantly, casted a spell on the group. A spell which was harmless and was only used to check for disguises or anything dangerous. After finding nothing out of the ordinary, he opened the gates and stepped aside for the group to enter.

“You’re all permitted to head inside. Welcome to Canterlot Castle.”

Sunset Shimmer smiled. “Thank you, guard, I’ll remember this.” she stepped closer towards the guard, her smile fading away, and an authoritative voice took over. “If you tell anypony about my identity, you’ll meet something worse than a change of post, got it?”

The royal guard gulped. “Y-Yes, ma’am. I promise I won’t tell anypony.”

Sunset Shimmer smiled once more. “That’s good to hear! Maybe you royal guards aren’t all that bad after all. Such a shame that’ll change in the future…” she muttered the last part to herself.

Sunset Shimmer turned towards her friends. "Are you guys going to stand there? Get going, I’ll be right behind you."

Her friends, after witnessing what had transpired, shrugged as they all went in, Sunset Shimmer following suit as the gate behind them closed. As they all walked, mostly in silence, they had a destination in mind. Their destination? The throne room. Right now, they had a mission, and it’s a mission that’ll change history once more.






More than fifty ponies were present within the throne room at the time, half of them being the Elite Canterlot Nobles led by Prince Blueblood, while the other half were the Canterlot Royal Guards led by Prince/Emperor Shining Armor of the Crystal Empire who, for some reason, kept his position as captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard despite being an emperor of another nation.

"I am ordering you to stand down and get out of this room! The security of Canterlot will be our responsibility!" Captain Shining Armor said.

Prince Blueblood snorted, "Stand down? Me?! How dare you say that to me, you inferior peasant! Don't you know who I am? I am the prince!" 

"You are not our prince!" one of the royal guards shouted.

Prince Blueblood retorted in kind. "You dare to disobey my status?! May I remind you AGAIN that I have the ability to reduce your job to a mere servant? I’d watch your tongue, peasant." 

“Hey! You will NOT disrespect those under my command, you unworthy foal!” said Captain Shining Armor.

“Why you little-”

The argument continued between the nobles and the military members, throwing child-like insults and gestures to each other. This continued on for several seconds before a group of ponies came in, and entered the throne room with a bang.

*Slam*

All heads in the room swiveled towards the throne room’s entrance. When once there were arguments, all ceased as they all stared at the arriving group in confusion.

"What in the name of Faust is going on here!?" yelled Sunset Shimmer.

Shining Armor was the first to speak up, "Who the hay are you?" 

Sunset looked at the captain before aggressively revealing her wings in front of them, which surprised all the ponies in the room.

"Who am I? I am Sunset Shimmer, your new princess until those who left have returned! On behalf of the royal high command, I am ordering the disbandment of the Canterlot Royal Guard, effective immediately! From here on out, the capital’s security will now be under REAF jurisdiction until further notice!" Sunset Shimmer ordered.

Captain Shining Armor’s eyes widened. "What? You can't do that!"

Sunset Shimmer narrowed her eyes at the captain. "Of course I can. With my mother and aunt out of the country, the highest authority of Equestria fell upon me."

"Y-Your mother? You don’t mean…" Shining Armor trailed off as a smirk grew on Sunset’s face.

"Yes, I am the daughter of Solar Primarch, Princess Celestia. Now, I order you and your troops to leave this room immediately before I do it myself."

Silence fell in the room as her words crashed onto those within the guard. Years of organization, funding, and preparation, all gone with the new princess’s words. Shining Armor wanted to deny her authority, to go against her words, but he couldn’t. Sunset is an alicorn, and their word means law. 

Dejected, the royal guard, including Shining Armor, left the room in silence. Their gazes either on the floor, or whatever was in front of them. They left in an orderly fashion as the door closed behind them, leaving only Princess Sunset Shimmer, her friends, and the nobles, in the room.

Sunset Shimmer switched her attention towards the Canterlot Nobles, especially 'Prince' Blueblood. He technically wasn’t a prince, even with his constant claim that he is Celestia’s nephew, but Sunset knew better. She knows that, in fact, he is not related to her at all. He is a descendant of the Princess Platinum, lineage of the old Unicornian Kingdom.

As the name suggests, the United Kingdom of Equestria is a combination of multiple different Kingdoms. The UKE consists of: The Kingdom of Unicornia, Pegasinian Empire (PEQR), and the Earth Pony Principality. As for the Thestrals, they had no kingdom. They were similar to tribes, and some even created towns to settle in, but the United Kingdoms of Equestria conquered/annexed them in 0097 CLD.

Based on the founding constitution of the UKE at 0001 CLD, members of royalty in these kingdoms were obligated to give up their power to the Alicorn monarchs when Celestia and Luna began to enter their adulthood.

Anyways, back to the topic, Sunset Shimmer kept staring at the Canterlot Elite Nobles. They were all self-centered, egotistical, arrogant individuals who spend their time wasting state treasury for their own blasted benefit.

Though, not all Equestrian nobles were like this. Nobles such as Lord Fancypants, Fleur De lis, Star Compass, Count Dooku, Jet Set, and Silver Hoof, are one of the nobles that can be labeled as good and honorable, and Sunset Shimmer took note of that. 

Right now, before she could start her mission, Sunset had some cleaning up to do. She's a military leader and not a political one, meaning her ways were aggressive, but effective. In fact, she believed that the Equestrian public would thank her for kicking these royal brats out of Canterlot.

Sunset stood tall, and spoke, "On behalf of the Royal Alicorn Order, all of you will be stripped of your nobility status this instance!" 

"WHAT?!!" they exclaimed.

Everyone in the room, including Sunset's friend, was shocked by the action. No one had ever thought that a princess would do something like this. 

For several seconds, no one said a word. An awkward silence fell on the room once more as the nobles wrapped their minds around the situation. Removing their noble status? Surely something like that was not allowed, especially if it was issued by a new princess, right? 

"Have you lost your mind?! Y-You can’t do that! You’re a new princess, you can’t do that! You can’t just remove our noble status as simple as that!" cried out Blueblood.

Sunset stared at Blueblood for a couple seconds before responding back, "Yes, I may be a new princess, but my word is final. You and your cronies have been ruining Canterlot and the UKE as a whole for far too long. Using your status and wealth for selfish needs? Pitiful. Now with your noble statuses removed, leave this area immediately before I arrest you all for trespassing. Do I make myself clear?”

“But-”

Sunset Shimmer stamped her hoof on the floor, hard. “Do I make myself clear…?” she said sternly.

Blueblood looked at her momentarily before snorting, “You’ll pay for this…”

Sunset Shimmer chuckled before her eyes set on the former prince. “I’d like to see you try.”

Blueblood turned away from the alicorn, and ordered his group of now former nobles to leave the throne room. As they all exited the throne room, Blueblood shot one last hostile glance towards Sunset Shimmer, before closing the door to the throne room with a resounding BANG.
 
Sunset Shimmer stared at the door while her friends remained still, their expression filled with worry. With Sunset’s actions, they were unsure of what to do at the moment. They expected to be working on the Changeling crisis, not whatever this is. 

Some seconds after the nobles left, Sunset broke her stare away from the door and focused on her friends. She immediately saw their expressions, and she went ahead to alleviate their worries.

“This… had to be done.” she said.

Dusky Sight was the first to reply, "Sunset… just why? Whatever you did, it was harsh, even for you." 

Sunset turned her attention towards Dusky Sight. "I know, I know, but it had to be done. The royal guards were incompetent, and Blueblood and his band of ponies? I don’t even have to explain why I removed their noble status." 

“I get the nobles, but why the Canterlot Royal Guard? The Changeling Invasion of Canterlot was their first taste of combat and they were outnumbered. They were bound to fail that day.” commented Crystal Tender. 

Sunset Shimmer turned to the crystal pony. ”That’s a good point, but they’re supposed to be the one of the most trained branches in the REAF. They fell within minutes after the changelings broke through, letting our princesses get captured. Thankfully, the princesses were rescued and the changelings got defeated, but that’s no excuse for their combat performance. That is the reason I removed them.”

“Yeah, but these are changelings we’re talking about. They can turn into anypony they want to, when they want to, and that’s confusing. If it weren’t for the fact they attacked, we wouldn’t have even known about them. Can’t you just rethink this over?” said Crystal Tender.

Sunset Shimmer paused for a moment, perhaps she had gone a bit too far. Well, for the Canterlot Royal Guards anyways. The nobles she’ll never regret.

Sunset Shimmer sighed. “I guess so. I might reinstate them, keyword being might, but now’s not the time. We need to work on the changelings at hoof, and we better do it quickly.”

 "Got it, but before we do so, don’t you think the other princesses might get mad about your actions?" Dusky Sight asked.

Sunset Shimmer replied, “I’ll figure something out later, trust me.”

“If you say so, Sunset.” said Dusky Sight.

"Alright, with that all out of the way, we’ll solve the government's power vacuum problem and soon, we will coordinate our efforts against the changelings. Let’s get to it!" Sunset said happily.

Sunset and her friends left the throne room and ordered the local bureaucrat staff to inform the Equestrian MP’s to gather in the parliament room. The Equestrian MP’s arrived and were surprised by the appearance of Sunset Shimmer, an Alicorn. 

For almost an hour, she spoke with the Equestrian MP’s, trying to prove her Alicornhood and her status as Celestia's daughter. At first, many did not believe her words, but the evidence displayed by Sunset Shimmer said otherwise. With the evidence shown, the Equestrian Parliament agreed to formally recognize the legitimacy of her position as the fourth princess of Equestria.

Surprisingly, news broke out quickly. Hours after her recognition, all radio news outlets across the UKE and the Crystal Empire were reporting about the unexpected fourth princess. The citizens of the UKE and the Crystal Empire were shocked about the existence of a fourth princess, and began asking themselves what other secrets their leaders were hiding from them. 

Meanwhile, after the announcement and recognition of Sunset’s position in the UKE’s government, Sunset and her friends left Canterlot Castle and made their way to the Canterlot Eastern District, where the main headquarters of the Equestrian Intelligence Agency Organization was conveniently located. The Royal Bureau of Investigation (RBI) have managed to find very interesting information on one of Equestria's main foes, the Changelings.

As everyone not from Earth knows, Changelings are quadruped insectoid creatures that live in the southern part of the Equestrian continent. They have unique shape shifting abilities, being able to mimic any other creature they encounter accurately. They usually do this in order to abduct ponies or creatures to lock them up in a cocoon to gather their love. 

For years, the RBI and any other available intelligence agencies have tried to eradicate, or alleviate, their actions to save the kidnapped victims so they can send them back to their families. But, because of their shape shifting abilities, they were unable to completely annihilate them.

This was because after successfully kidnapping an individual pony, changelings will deploy agents to mimic the appearance of said ponies and take their identity so they could secretly cover up that the individual was kidnapped.

Hundreds, possibly even thousands of changeling agents live within Equestrian society. Even trying to identify them is extremely difficult, making the whole situation 'there are impostors Among Us. 



Setting that aside, Sunset Shimmer and her friends had arrived at the RBI Headquarters. They gave their identification cards to the guard and entered the building. From there, they were directed to take an elevator that would take them deep into the bedrock of Canterlot Mountain, where things that are kept secret, stay secret from the public.


=///Inside the elevator, 1900 hours\\\=

The atmosphere in the elevator was awkward. Everypony was silent and none of them spoke at all. The occasional rumbling of the elevator and the music that played being the only form of sound in the descending metal box.

Everything continued like that until Flower Jade suddenly broke the silence.

"Hey, do you guys wanna hear a joke?" Flower Jade asked, a smile beginning to grow on her face.

Thunder Spark groaned. "Oh Faust… Jade, not now..." 

"Yeah, now’s not the time, especially on an elevator." Dusky Sight said.

”Aw… come on! It’s not that bad. My jokes always hit.” replied Flower Jade.

”Always hit rock bottom, that is.” said Thunder Spark.

”Oh you little-”

The elevator malfunctioned before Flower Jade was able to retort back. The ambient sounds of the elevator came to a halt, plunging the metal box into silence.

"Keep calm, everypony. I think the facility technicians forgot to check the elevators again. I’m no technician, but this should work." assured Sunset Shimmer as she smacked the panel with her hoof.

The light inside the elevator came back to life and the elevator started moving again. Unfortunately, the only thing that didn’t return was the elevator music.

Things suddenly became quiet again, more quiet than before. The sound of the elevator rumbling as it made its way down was the only thing the ponies could hear now. Flower Jade, growing ever bored from the silence, began to sing a tune.

"♪Du'di da da, dubidu, dada♪..." sang Flower Jade as she attempted to copy the tunes from the elevator before.

"Jade…?" Sunset said.

Flower Jade abruptly stopped singing and turned towards Sunset with a nervous look, "Haha… sorry Sunset, won't say a peep." 

Sunset grinned. "No, you’re fine, it’s just that you're off-key, dumbass. Even a foal can do it better!” Sunset cleared her throat. ”It went like this… 𝄞Di-rim, di-rim… dubi dubi du, tara du rida~𝄞”



Sunset’s singing was surprisingly really good to the point where all her friends sang along with the melody. Despite music not being Sunset’s talent, she is still really good at it. In fact, singing is one of her many hobbies whenever she has free time.

As the singing in the elevator gradually came to an end, the elevator finally arrived at the inner center of Canterlot Mountain where Sunset and her friends got off the elevator and continued their journey to the meeting room. From there, they’ll meet with the RBI director and other prominent members of other intelligence organizations.

As they walked, they noticed that it was very busy. Ponies were moving about quickly, either holding documents or doing something else. It appears that whatever is going on, the RBI is getting busy. 

They arrived at their destination and immediately went in. Inside, they were greeted with an oval table with Chief Director Raysberry Maneller at the end of it. They also noticed other famous RBI agents such as Special Agent Sweetie Drops and Special Agent Lyra Heartstrings.

But, as Sunset and her friends looked closer, they saw another pony present in the room, a crystal pony. That certain crystal pony is Arctic Lilly, director of the Northern Intelligence Service.

Northern Intelligence Service or ‘NIS’ for short, is a part of the Crystal Empire’s intelligence branch.

Both the RBI and NIS have been sworn enemies since the beginning when they were created. During the Equestria-Crystal Empire War in 0037 CLD, both sides tried to outdo each other by spying and carrying out dozens of black operations.

The NIS were incredibly talented when it came to secret operations. Despite the NIS being a smaller organization compared to the RBI in terms of number of agents and resources they have, they are able to beat the RBI in the war of espionage because of their efficiency and proficiency in carrying out their operations.

While in the middle of the war between the two countries, NIS agents managed to kill multiple generals and high-ranking members of the Equestrian military. They even managed to kidnap Princess Luna who was a young filly during that time. These are one of the reasons why Equestria decided to sue for peace and recognize the independent Crystal Empire and crystal pony sub-races.



Setting that aside, while Sunset and her friends took their seats, Sunset noticed Arctic Lilly staring at RBI Director Raysberry Maneller. Sunset turned to see the RBI director and it appeared that he too had his sights locked on to the crystal pony mare. She didn't know exactly why, but there were rumors spreading within the two organizations that the two of them were more than colleagues.

(Guys, listen...I'm not an FBI x CIA Fan, I swear...please)

Sunset wouldn't be surprised if the rumors were true though. The crystal ponies have always been known for their lust for love. In fact, many creatures around the world dub the Crystal Empire as the horniest place on Equis.

(Author's note: The Crystal Empire is basically a cross between Ultra Pacifist Canada and Modern Japan.)

Sunset cleared her throat. "Ahem… so, what’s the deal with the changelings? Is it another invasion attempt?" 

Director Raysberry Maneller broke his gaze from Director Arctic Lilly as he turned his attention to the new princess.

“No, unfortunately it’s not another invasion attempt. This may be far-fetched, but it’s much worse.” he grabbed a paper file on the desk and set it down in front of him.

"As we know, both the UKE and the Crystal Empire were suddenly displaced on this new planet called ‘Earth’. This gave rise to a unique situation, one of them is the mass teleportation of all citizens of the UKE and the Crystal Empire who were in foreign countries, back to their home countries during the time of space-dimensional cataclysm, or 'Whiteout' as we know it."

Sunset Shimmer raised a brow. "I don't see this having anything to do with changelings at all, director." 

"I was getting to that. You see, princess, all the ponies that were teleported back en masse not only included citizens from abroad, but also includes the ponies who have been abducted by the changelings over the past decades." revealed Director Raysberry.

"I beg your pardon? W-What do you mean by that?" said a confused Sunset.

“I meant what I meant, princess. Everypony, even ones thought dead from changeling abductions, have magically appeared.” 

Sunset wasn't just the only pony who was surprised by this information, but all her friends as well. This couldn’t be a coincidence, nor should it even be possible. Either way, this was some sort of extraordinary miracle of divine intervention that will remain a mystery, at least for now.

“When did they all appear? Where did they all appear?” asked Sunset.

Director Raysberry cleared his throat. "Surprisingly, they’ve all appeared recently, just when the princesses left for the human nation. Military airships patrolling the Changeling-Equestrian border reported at least nearly sixteen thousand ponies stranded in what was formerly the territory of the Changelings Queendom. They were all found in a state of malnutrition and were all exhausted.

After giving care to all the ponies, we questioned them. What they all said were the same: the changelings kidnapped them and locked them in cocoons for years inside some kind of underground cave until suddenly, the 'Whiteout' incident occurred and they suddenly found themselves out in the open.” Director Raysberry revealed.

Sunset took a moment to digest all the information she was told. Years upon years of work and investigations, all done within seconds after the ‘Whiteout’ event. 

"What about now? Where are they now?" Dusky Sight asked worriedly.

Director Raysberry turned his attention to Dusky Sight. "At the moment, they’ve been all relocated to an isolated facility in the middle of the UKE. From there, we’ll properly check on their injuries, update them on recent events, and soon we’ll let them into society, back to their families, friends, and homes."

Sunset and all the ponies’ expressions in the room began to lighten up. The 16 thousand or so ponies who were victims of inequine crimes are finally getting the help they needed. Still, that doesn’t mean everything is over. There was still one more issue they had to solve. 

This time, Director Arctic Lilly spoke, "If you’re thinking what I’m thinking, then yes, this doesn't mean the problems stop there. As we know, even though all ponies overseas were teleported back to Equestria, the same couldn't be said for other species. Millions of individuals from various species such as the Griffons, Zebras, Deers, Kirins, Minotaurs, Centaurs, Hippogriffs, and others were unfortunately stranded here. 

With this knowledge, we’ve also learnt this includes Changelings, and we’ve estimated that there are still more than fifteen thousand changelings hiding in the communities of both the UKE and Crystal Empire."

More than fifteen thousand sounds like a lot at first, until Sunset remembered that based on the limited intelligence the UKE gathered, that’s only half of the number of changelings that Queen Chrysalis mustered in her attempts to invade Canterlot many years ago. This made Sunset confident in her abilities to finally defeat one of the UKE’s most dangerous foes once and for all.

But there's still one problem: tracking them down.

"If there’s somewhere around fifteen thousand or so out there, how do you suppose we find them? These changelings are masters of disguise, and even trying to find one would take ages." Sunset said.

Director Arctic Lilly grinned. "Now here’s the interesting part: their disguises are useless now." 

Sunset raised a brow. “Useless? How so?”

”I’m glad you asked! Since we managed to find the kidnapped victims, this allows us to identify the original identities of those who have been stolen by these bugs. Find the identities, we can root these changelings out, and we’ve done the first part. Believe it or not, we've managed to track down all their individual locations down to a tee. In fact, we even managed to find their small underground colony which they built a few miles away from the former border.” Director Arctic Lilly said.

Sunset whistled in astonishment. "Wow, you all were able to do that in just a few days? That's pretty impressive!" 

Director Arctic Lilly smiled. "We’re the NIS and the RIB, Your Highness, intelligence work is our playground. Though, we would’ve not been able to do this without the help of Mareegle, Princetagram, PMail, and Hoofsbook. They are the ones who provided us personal information such as address, occupation, and even their favorite gathering place." 

"Well... that's expected..." Sunset muttered.

"Indeed… Setting that aside, we originally intended to inform Princess Celestia about this, but as we know, she and her sister are overseas right now. This leaves you to be the one in charge. We’ve done the hard work, princess, but we basically don't know what to do in this situation. Whatever is happening, we don’t have much experience in. Though, we have a number of… options or protocols to choose from." Director Arctic Lilly said.

"Oh really? What kind of protocols?" Sunset asked curiously.

Before Director Arctic Lilly could speak, Sweetie Drops raised her hoof. 

”Permission to tell the princess the protocols, director?” Sweetie Drops asked.

Director Arctic Lilly nodded. ”Permission granted, we’re all ears.”

Sweetie Drops lowered her hoof onto the table once more, and turned towards Sunset Shimmer. ”Special Agent Sweetie Drops, RIB, at your service.”

Sunset nodded. ”Glad to hear that, Special Agent Sweetie Drops. Now, what are these protocols I’m hearing about?”

Sweetie Drops cleared her throat. ”Ahem… these protocols were devised whenever the sovereignty of the UKE is under threat. There are hundreds of protocols, each useful in their own unique situation. It can range from tame ones to more… unsavory ones.”

”Unsavory ones? Can you please elaborate on that?” Sunset asked.

Sweetie Drops sighed. ”Sure thing, princess. Unsavory protocols are ones that, if discovered, would put the UKE and her allies in jeopardy. These protocols include directly attacking the enemy, internal disruption of an enemy government, or to downright slaughtering an entire enemy species until they’ve become… extinct.”

…

The room fell silent as Sweetie Drops finished speaking, her words echoing in the minds of those present. The ponies in the room knew that the changelings were the enemy, but still, they had every right to live as any other species, right?

The room continued to stay silent for a few seconds before Crystal Tender spoke up. 

”W-What…? That’s horrible!” Crystal Tender said.

Sweetie Drops turned to Crystal Tender. ”I know the protocols sound horrible, but it could be our solution to our changeling problem, especially the last one.”

”But that’s the extermination of a species, ma’am…” Emerald Ace chimed in, looking distantly at the table in front of him. 

Sweetie Drops spoke, ”I’m aware, but we can finally get rid of an enemy that has been plaguing our lands for years. Don’t you want that?”

Emerald Ace sighed. ”Yeah, I want that. I want these lands to be rid of an enemy that has been invading our lands for years, but…” he looked up to turn at Sweetie Drops. ”can we possibly live with the guilt that we’ve exterminated an entire species? A species with cultures, history, and are so similar to us, despite their hunger for love? Can we possibly live with that guilt, ma’am…?”

Sweetie Drops opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. The only thing she can say is, ”I… I honestly don’t know…”

Silence, the room fell in once more. They had a solution, an effective solution, but to act on this solution would mean an entire race exterminated. Should they even do it, or were there more pacifist protocols out there that they should use? Whatever it is, they don’t know. They sat at their meeting room table, the hoofsteps outside the door being the only form of sound those in the room can hear. 

A few seconds later, Sunset spoke up.

”Can I see these… protocols, Special Agent Sweetie Drops?”

Sweetie Drops turned to the new princess, a bit startled. “O-Of course, Your Highness.” she reached down to grab a document, and handed it to the princess. ”All the protocols are in there, Your Highness.”

”Thank you.” Sunset thanked as she opened the document with her magic.




Protocol 1

Continous eradication of the enemy species until they’re all extinct. Destroy all records that this has ever happened at all and hide the information from the public.


Protocol 2

Kill almost all of them on the spot, leaving 2% of the enemy population to prevent extinction. Lock them all up in a place of confinement in the Russean province. Code name: Stable


Protocol 3

Ask the Japones tentacle monster to consume all the male enemy species, and turn the female ones into personal slav-

Sunset momentarily closed the document to prevent the further reading of Protocol 3.

‘Alright, that's way too outrageous… I'll make sure whoever made this gets arrested.' Sunset thought to herself.

She skipped Protocol 3 and continued to read the other options available in the paper, preferably one that wasn’t made by a monster. She wanted the changelings to be neutralized, but at the same time, she didn't want to make them go extinct or suffer forever in eternal confinement.

As she continued reading, Sunset thought back to Twilight’s attempts to reform her former enemies and turn them into her friends such as the infamous Discord and Starlight Glimmer. Sunset intended on doing just that, and who knows, perhaps the changelings could be a useful asset if she managed to convince them to join their side. 

Now that the UKE and the Crystal Empire is in another world, she believed the RBI and the NIS could take advantage of their unique shapeshifting magic to infiltrate foreign nations and be used for the good of both nations.

After several minutes of reading the document, skipping the ones that could get someone fired, one of the protocols caught her eye. Sunset smiled, sure that she had finally found the perfect plan on what to do with the changelings.




Protocol 66

Spare at least 40-60% of the enemy population and propose a bargain. Offer them open territory and help ensure the survival of their species. On the pretext that they will swear their allegiance to the UKE and her allies, teach them on how to practice a harmonious way of life. The new nation would become an Equestrian protectorate and will be under constant supervision of the Equestrian military for several years until they can be trusted enough."




'Yep, that looks perfect.' Sunset said in her mind.

This was perfect protocol. No extinctions, no forced imprisonments, just turning them into a good ally. This way, the changelings won't be able to pose a significant threat to the UKE and her allies, and at the same time, they could be used to serve the UKE’s interest for decades to come.

Sunset turned towards Special Agent Sweetie Drops who was tapping her hoof on the table. "Special Agent Sweetie Drops, I may have found the perfect protocol for us to choose on what we're going to do with the changelings."

This caught everyone’s attention in the room. This is the moment where they’ll learn whether they took a more pacifist route, or full on extermination. They hoped for the former.

"Oh, what is it? What’s the protocol we should choose?" Sweetie Drops asked.

Sunset smiled. "I think it would be perfect if we execute Protocol 66." 






==///The next day, 1856 hours, a few miles from the former Equestria-Changeling border\\\=

It was almost 7 PM, just before the sun began to set. In the middle of the Equestrian badlands forest, there stood over 6 thousand REAF troops, all a part of the infamous 501st Equestrian Legion.

Right now, they are on a mission, a mission that is of the utmost importance. They were there to neutralize one of Equestria's most dangerous foes: Changelings. They had to be put down to prevent the growth of their already large population. If they manage to do that, then the mission will be a success. If they fail, the changelings will grow ever more cautious, evading their eyes better than before.

Even though most of the ponies in the legion were seasoned veterans, they couldn't shake the uneasiness and fear of the enemy they would face.

They had heard the changelings were cunning and dangerous, and considering the fact that they are cut off from their homeland, attacking them would surely result in an intense battle.

Thankfully, the legion was in charge of a competent pony, that being Commander Sunset Shimmer, leader of the 501st Legion. She knew the tense status of her troops, and she perfectly knew what she had to do to revive her troop’s morale. Just like when Sunset and her friends were first deployed in Iraqquus, the good old military speech of her longtime commander in the 212th Legion would work in raising troop morale.

After some time of thought, Sunset Shimmer stretched her wings and flapped them slowly. She raised off the ground and flew towards the sky. She began to hover above the military FOB they had established and gazed upon her legion below. With a cough to clear her throat, she uses the Royal Canterlot Voice to get the attention of her troops.

"Attention!"

Her voice echoed throughout the FOB as the ponies below turned their attention to Sunset Shimmer who was hovering over a military tent, her glorious horn and her beautiful alicorn wings in clear view.



She gazed upon those under her command as she spoke, "Good evening, everypony. There’s no secrecy about our orders. The RBI and the NIS have discovered a unique opportunity in neutralizing one of the worst enemies the UKE and her allies has ever encountered.” 

She cleared her throat, preparing to continue. “As you all know, all of this started four years ago when the changelings unjustly attacked our capital city of Canterlot in an attempt to take over the UKE. They had hurt many of our citizens, taken down many of our brave mares and stallions that were defending Canterlot, and they had stolen our citizen’s identity. But, let this be known that today, we finally put an end to their chaos once and for all…”

She paused for a moment to gather in her soldier’s expressions. Some were determined, some were neutral, but quite a lot were unsure. Noting the latter, she pressed on.

”Children of Celestia, children of Luna, brothers and sisters, I see in some of your eyes the same fear that was once present during my first operation. A day may come, whether it’d be today or somewhere in the future, when the courage of ponykind fails, when we betray our friends and break all bonds of Friendship.”

“But, hear my words, it will not be this day when that happens. There will be a day when the age of ponykind comes crashing down, when its ideals of friendship and harmony will become nothing but the past, but it is not this day! This day, on this very day, we fight! By all that you hold dear in our harmonious nation, I bid you, stand, ponies of the Equestria!"


HURAH!



"Glory to the Princesses!"

"Glory to Harmony!"

"Glory to Equestria!"



"Glory to Faust's, The God Empress of Ponykind!!!"


(Author's note : Yes, the United Kingdom of Equestria is basically the British Empire)

Sunset smiled slightly as she slowly descended to the ground. She never knew she had it in her to do something like that, but here she was, inspiring her troops. As she touched the ground with a soft thud, she checked her watch that was around her hoof. 

It was 1903 hours, just as the sun was setting. She timed the start of the operation to coincide with her own namesake. The operation of eliminating the threat of the changelings could finally begin.

"Alright, everypony! Get to your battle formations! It’s time to move out!" 

A flurry of activity soon happened afterwards. Ponies began moving left and right, moving around to their formations and gathering with their assigned roles and units. It was chaos, but it was organized chaos.

Sunset watched the organized chaos for a few seconds before she began moving to a certain area. After some minutes of trotting, she arrived at where her friends were. They were all in their gears, each unique in their own way. She shifted her gaze to Flower Jade, who until now was still serving as the radio mare for her team.

"Jade, give me your radio, I need it to give the orders to start Operation Insect Fall." Sunset ordered.

Flower Jade chuckled. “Interesting operation name, but here you go.”

Flower Jade gave her radio to Sunset, which Sunset took with her telekinesis. Sunset adjusted the radio’s frequency as she tuned it to the frequency which connected to all of the radio units that were a part of the operation. 

She raised the radio to her mouth, and after a few seconds of thinking of what she was going to say, she took a deep breath, and spoke into it.

"Attention to everypony on this frequency. This is Princess Sunset Shimmer, Princess Of Defense. Declaring that the time has come, execute Protocol 66." 

Across the United Kingdom of Equestria and the Crystal Empire, both RBI and NIS agents broke into hundreds of individual teams and began moving towards their targets.

Their targets? All of the changelings that had lived in pony society in secrecy. The changelings had deeply infiltrated Equine civilization, disguised from both ordinary civilians and those in power. Only time will tell if their mission will succeed or not.



Meanwhile, the 501st Legion had finished forming their military formations. They were divided into hundreds of squads and multiple dedicated mages teams. They were ready to march towards a known changeling underground colony.

Sunset took her special netherite armor, gear, and equipment, all of which were forged from the best of the best in all of the UKE. She raised her sword with her telekinesis and pointed eastwards, the direction of where the changeling’s underground colony was located.

"ALL TROOPS, MARCH FORWARD!" Sunset ordered.

The ground shook as the 501st Legion marched. Their morale was currently high and they couldn't wait to finally meet their enemy on the battlefield. As they tread the long ground, ponies from every unit started singing a song. It was a chain reaction, it began at the back of the line with a few ponies singing the song. Other ponies joined in, and soon enough, most of the 501st Legion had begun singing. Those who were not were casually listening in to their fellow soldiers as their voices traveled throughout the line. 

The song in question was a song as old as time. SO old, SO ancient, the time when the making of the song goes back to the era of when Empress Faust had set her hooves on Equis and led Ponykind in the crusade against the Windigos two millennia ago.




𝄞 Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Princess 𝄞
𝄞 She is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored 𝄞
𝄞 She hath loosed the fateful rainbow from Her beautiful swift horn 𝄞

𝄞 Her truth is marching on 𝄞

𝄞 Glory, glory, Harmony! 𝄞
𝄢 Glory, glory, Harmony! 𝄢
𝄞 Glory, glory, Harmony! 𝄞

𝄞 Her truth is marching on 𝄞

𝄞 I have seen Her in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps 𝄞
𝄞 They have builded Her an altar in the evening dews and damps 𝄞
𝄞 I can read Her righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps 𝄞

𝄞 Her day is marching on. 𝄞

𝄞 Glory, glory, Harmony! 𝄞
𝄢 Glory, glory, Harmony! 𝄢
𝄞 Glory, glory, Harmony! 𝄞

𝄞 Her day is marching on! 𝄞



𝄡



𝄞 She has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat 𝄞
𝄞 She is sifting out the hearts of ponies before Her judgment-seat 𝄞
Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer Her! Be jubilant, my hoofs! 𝄞

𝄞 Our God is marching on! 𝄞

𝄞 Glory, glory, Harmony! 𝄞
𝄢 Glory, glory, Harmony! 𝄢
𝄞 Glory, glory, Harmony! 𝄞

𝄞 Our God is marching on! 𝄞

𝄞 In the beauty of the Tree of Harmony was born in Everfree Forest 𝄞
𝄞 With the magic of it's Fruits that Harmonizing the entire continent 𝄞
𝄞 As they all died to spreading chaos upon the world, let us die to spreading harmony upon this world 𝄞

𝄞 While our God is marching on! 𝄞

𝄞 Glory, glory, Harmony! 𝄞
𝄢 Glory, glory, Harmony! 𝄢
𝄞 Glory, glory, Harmony! 𝄞

𝄞 WHILE...OUR...GOD...IS...MARCHING...ON!!! 𝄞



𝄡